How to Seal Launch a Kayak
Learning to seal launch your kayak gives you another tool to get you and your kayak into the water. When the waves are up, the seal launch may be your only effective option to get onto the water. For a seal launch, you get into the kayak onshore and slide your way down the beach until you reach deep enough water to begin normal paddling.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Move your kayak as close to the incoming waves as possible without the waves pushing your kayak around.
-
2
Straddle your kayak and sit down seat first. Next, pull your legs in and place them on the foot braces. Get into the kayak as quickly as possible.
-
-
3
Put on your sprayskirt. Make sure that your grab handle is on the deck. If it gets tucked under your skirt, getting the skirt off for a wet-exit becomes difficult
-
4
Move the kayak forward using the paddle in one hand and your knuckle on the other. If you lift your weight off of the kayak's bottom by applying downward pressure to your knuckles and paddle, it becomes easier to inch the boat forward.
-
5
Try to keep the nose of the kayak pointed into the incoming waves. Sometimes you must compensate for the waves' varying direction. Keep moving forward until there is enough water under the kayak to paddle.
-
6
Paddle through the shore-break. The faster you paddle, the quicker and easier it is to get through these breaking waves. Remember to keep the bow pointed into the wave.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If your kayak gets turned sideways to the waves while still on the beach, lay down on your wave-side shoulder. Use your torso to pivot the bow of the kayak back into the waves.
Besides using it in waves, a seal launch works great for launching from a steep beach, because it allows you to get in on a flat area and glide down the steep section into the water.
When going over a foam pile---the whitewater part of a breaking wave---hold your paddle parallel to the kayak until the foam pile hits you in the face. Once it hits your face, take a paddle stroke to gain momentum.
Seek proper instruction from a certified kayaking instructor before trying this on your own.
Seal launching from rocks or a pebble beach will scratch the bottom of your kayak.
